Apple Grows To The Sky, Stamps.com A Real Screamer

It seemed like Europeans were dancing in the streets at the end of last week when it looked like Greece would get the aid it needed to stave off default.

Banks will be good soon

On Monday, it was time to be somber again, as European financiers put Greece's government through the ringer, requiring a teleconference to outline how spending cuts and tax increases will give Athens a shot at paying its bills.

Predictably, European bank stocks fell on renewed talk of a messy default. In the U.S., stocks were down today but closed well off of their lows, and the market is looking pretty good, despite the red arrows. The S&P 500 Index closed 0.98% lower at 1204, the SPDR SPY at $120.31, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.94% to close at 11,401.

Technology stocks led the market, with the Nasdaq down only 0.36%. Apple helped out, hitting a new all-time high of $413.23 intraday and closing up 2.8% at $411.63. Microsoft was up 0.33% to $27.61.

Leading the market lower were financial stocks, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR (XLF) down 2.7%. Notable losers included Citigroup, down 4.4% and Morgan Stanley, lower by 7.9%. Goldman Sachs fell 2.5%, but on volume that was about 25% lower than average for the past three months. If you had to pick one, get JPMorgan Chase & Co. That stock was down 2.8% on low volume Monday and, unlike other financial stocks, it offers a decent yield at 3%.

Netflix saw more pain on Monday. Shares dropped another 7.4% as CEO Reed Hastings published a mea culpa letter on the company's website, apologizing for the way he handled the bifurcation of Netflix's DVD and streaming services. The stock has been hammered, losing one-third of its value in the past three trading sessions. The dead cat should be bouncing soon.

One real barn-burner of a stock to keep an eye on is Stamps.com. The company provides postage printing services and its shares hit an all-time high of $25.24 today, but closed at $23.78.

Stamps.com has doubled since June, but doesn't appear to be wildly overvalued. It trades for 19.6 times expected 2011 earnings and sales grew 25.7% in the most recent quarter. Net income was up 503%. It's a small-cap with a $339 million market capitalization, plus it has a small float of 11.7 million shares so moves tend to be amplified.

I am the deputy editor of investing content for Forbes Media. I'm responsible for money and investing coverage on Forbes.com and in Forbes magazine. As editor of the Forbes Dividend Investor newsletter service, I send out two dividend stock recommendations per week and send...